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What does self-directed education look like for young people across the standard school-age years? There is no answer to this that applies to everyone.
The wonderful thing about self-directed education is that it looks different for every person, and, for any given person, it may look different from day to day and month to month.”
It also looks different in different settings. Young people attending a self-directed education school or learning center will be interacting with and learning regularly from other children in that setting. Young people unschooled but not enrolled in a center will be in some ways more dependent on their parents to help them pursue their interests, especially in the early years, but may have more opportunities for getting involved in community activities that fit their interests and where they can meet others and make friends.
There are, however, a few generalizations that can be made based on research into the lives of young people involved in self-directed education across settings:
Age 4-7
Research shows that by age 4 most young people are able to play truly socially with other young people and are capable and desirous of much more independence from parents than they were a year earlier. From age 4 through 7 most children in self-directed education are enthusiastically exploring the physical and social world around them. Outdoors they are engaged in vigorous physical play, with lots of chasing, climbing, rough and tumble. Indoors or outdoors, they love to play make-believe games with their friends, in which they are developing their capacity for imagination and hypothetical reasoning and are honing their ability to negotiate with peers about what and how they are playing. Such negotiation leads to great spurts in their skills with language.
Age 8-11
These are the peak years of childhood, before adolescence begins to set in. Young people in this age range continue to play vigorously outdoors, but some of that play may take on a more consistent self-structured form. They may start playing more organized games and self-organized sports. They are learning how to structure their activities more fully than they had in the past and to coordinate such structuring with their playmates. Indoors they may begin to play more formal games, including board games and computer games.
Literacy and numeracy skills may become more important to them now than before, as they need to read directions and calculate scores for some of what they are doing.”
Some are beginning to develop hobbies and, as part of this, are looking for books or online material that supports them in those hobbies. Also, for many children, the earlier interest in imaginative play morphs into an interest in reading fiction and/or playing online fantasy games.
Age 12-15
The trends toward more formal activities that began earlier may continue. Hobbies become more fully developed. Some may even be thinking about how a hobby could become a career or provide a foundation for such. Friendships become deeper. Young teens continue to enjoy playing with friends, but now friendship is not just about play. Young adolescents (and older ones too) may spend many hours “just hanging out,” but at a deeper level they are sharing thoughts and emotions, exploring romantic feelings and relationships, helping one another understand themselves and the larger world. They may at this age begin to think about problems in the world, such as global warming or racism, and what, if anything, they can do to help ameliorate them. Some may join formal causes. Some may begin to develop and explore political and philosophical ideas that are at least somewhat independent of those inherited from parents.
Age 16-18
By this age most young people in self-directed education are beginning to think seriously about what lies ahead. How might they make a living? What do they want their adult life to look like? How can they prepare for the life they want? Those thinking of higher education may enroll in one or more community college courses as a means of experiencing formal education and establishing a track record that can help them in admission to a four-year-college. They may also begin studying in a deliberate way for college admissions tests. Part-time employment is also very common at this age, ideally in a work setting related to what they hope for as a career.
Research has shown that some young people in self-directed education are already entrepreneurs at this age, making at least some money at what was previously just a hobby.”
These are the years of transition to adulthood.
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Peter Gray, Ph.D
Peter Gray, research professor at Boston College, is author of an internationally acclaimed introductory psychology textbook and research articles in neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, and education. Much of his research focuses on the role of play in children’s development. His book "Free to Learn," about children’s natural capacities for self-directed education, has appeared in 18 languages.
